Using a designed survey, I recorded information about each time I checked my phone. The collected data reveals insights about the purpose of checking, screen time, distraction patterns and the impact of notifications.
Across the main purposes of checking the phone, entertainment has the highest median screen time, while communication, checking notifications, and “No reason” show relatively low screen time.
Despite the low screen time on average, checking the notification led to one of the longest sessions of 45 minutes, showing its impact on phone usage.
When specifically look at the distraction rate by notification, the result shows that I am more likely to get distracted if the phone checking behaviour is prompted by a notification versus deliberate checking.
This indicates that by controlling and reducing notifications, I could potentially decrease the chance of getting sidetracked from the main purpose when checking the phone.
This graph shows the comparison between the distraction rate when I was recording data for project 2 versus project 4. It shows that I got distracted from the main purpose of phone checking more when working for project 4.
Since between two periods, no changes to notification was made, the difference could potentially due to other external factors such as differences in my stress level or study schedules.
Overall, while there could be other confounding factors affecting the examined variables. The results suggest that the main purpose of phone checking could affect my screen time, and notification could play a role in my distraction tendency. Appropriate measures could be taken to reduce screen time and likelihood of getting sidetracked.